1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a substrate processing apparatus, a maintenance method of a substrate processing apparatus and transfer method performed in a substrate processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional substrate processing apparatus, which performs one process in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, includes a plurality of process chambers for processing a substrate, a plurality of process controllers respectively connected to the plurality of process chambers to individually control processing of the substrate in the plurality process chambers, an integrated controller respectively connected to the plurality of process controllers to control an operation of a transfer mechanism that transfers the substrate between the process chambers and a transfer chamber, and a manipulation unit respectively connected to the integrated controller and the plurality of process controllers to transmit a processing instruction to the plurality of process controllers and simultaneously receive operation reports from the plurality of process controllers via the integrated controller.
Moreover, an operation mode of the process chambers managed by the integrated controller is divided into two modes: a maintenance mode in which a wafer is not transferred, and a production mode (a normal state) in which a production wafer is transferred and processed. In the maintenance mode, the maintenance checks of parts constituting the process chamber after repeating a predetermined production. A thickness of a film obtained by measuring a film thickness of a substrate processed in the process chamber after a maintenance task thereof completed and the number of particles adhered to a surface of the substrate (hereinafter, referred to as ‘quality control (QC) check’) are checked after the operation mode of the process chamber is set to a production mode.
Therefore, in order to prevent the production wafer from being loaded into the process chamber during the QC check, the process chamber must be separated during the QC check. However, since a disassembling work and an installation work of the process chamber are required, the maintenance time is long and the productivity of an apparatus is degraded.